Fluffy Buttercup Winter Squash Waffles

Delicious, fluffy breakfast waffles made with roasted winter squash and topped with sautéed apples, Kelly Petersen’s homemade apple butter, granola, pumpkin seeds and maple syrup.

Yay for squash season! I absolutely LOVE using squash in a variety of recipes from sweet treats to savory delights. Roasting the squash is always the most time consuming part, but once you have that down you have plenty of cooked squash to use in any recipes of your choosing. The inspiration for these squash waffles came from the pancakes I made a few months ago incorporating squash into the mix (Sweet Honey Bear Winter Squash Pancakes). I remember being surprised how fluffy and moist the resulting product was, and I was curious if I could replicate that in waffle form. And it was most definitely a success! 🙂 I used buttercup winter squash to make these waffles, but you could use any squash of the same consistency/flavor (I bet butternut squash would work great as well!). Thank you Taproot Farm for the delicious organic squash used in this recipe. I would also like to give a super shoutout to Kelly Petersen, owner and creator of the blog The Bookish Kitchen, who gave me the INCREDIBLE apple butter! Check out her page, because she will be posting her recipe soon! Enjoy and happy cooking!

*This recipe requires precooked squash, so plan to have that done beforehand. See below if you need instruction.*

Recipe by © Alysha Melnyk 2018

Instructions:

For Roasting Buttercup Winter Squash:

1. First (if you haven’t already), cook your buttercup winter squash. See directions below.
2. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
3. Rinse and dry squash.
4. Take knife and make large, deep slits all over the squash. This helps the squash cook evenly and also not explode in your oven (because that unfortunately can happen haha!).
5. Roast a large  squash for a total of 80 minutes (but flip at 40 minutes – use oven mitts and carefully do this). If your  squash is smaller, cut the time to 60 minutes total.
6. Once the squash is done roasting (skin should look browned/slightly wrinkly in spots), carefully lift the squash out of the pan with oven mitts and set on clean surface.
7. Using a knife, cut the squash lengthwise in half. Scoop out the seeds (it’s a bit easier to do this while the squash is still warm) and let the squash halves cool (normally happens pretty fast – around 5 to 10 minutes).
8. Once the squash is cooled, use a spoon and brush down the sides of the squash to get the roasted flesh. Leftovers can be refrigerated and stored for around 3 to 5 days.

For Making Waffles:

1. Combine your diced apple pieces and olive oil in sauté pan. Place on low/medium heat and cook until apple pieces are softened, tossing occasionally.
2. While the apples are cooking, combine your waffle mix, roasted squash, melted unsalted butter, milk, egg and honey in a mixing bowl. Mix until well-combined and smooth.
3. Next, cook waffles according to your iron instructions.
4. Top cooked waffles with apple butter, cooked apples, granola, pumpkin seeds and maple syrup.
5. Enjoy! 🙂